“Exciting and bittersweet” is how Anthony Buhl, CEO of EnergX, a contractor at the U.S. Energy Dept’s Oak Ridge nuclear waste cleanup site near Knoxville, Tenn., describes his portion of the complex’s stimulus infusion gained early this year. Oak Ridge, Tenn. Photo: Oak Ridge Convention & Visitors Bureau / Wescott Production since the 1940s has left nuclear waste stores and tainted buildings to be cleared. Photo: U.S. Energy Dept. New hire training lasted three months and is critical to executing Oak Ridge’s ARA-funded cleanup. Related Links: Stimulus: A Snapshot of Top Shovel-, Wrench- and Pencil-Ready Projects About $125 million of
An infusion of $220 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding is letting the U.S. section of the International Boundary and Water Commission accelerate work on 170 miles of levees of the Rio Grande flood control system in Texas and New Mexico. The El Paso, Texas-based commission says the work will improve flood protection for more than two million U.S. residents. El Paso, Texas Photo: International Boundary and Water Longhorn Excavators is one of the first contractors out of the gate to upgrade levees along the lower Rio Grande River in Texas and New Mexico. Related Links: Stimulus: A
Timing is everything, and Advance Transit, a private nonprofit company providing bus and paratransit services across the Upper Valley region of Vermont and New Hampshire, took advantage of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act to speed an upgrade to its bus garage. Wilder, Vt. Related Links: Stimulus: A Snapshot of Top Shovel-, Wrench- and Pencil-Ready Projects In 2005, Advance applied for federal funding to build an expanded parking garage in Wilder, Vt., for its fleet of 30 buses and handicapped vans. The new garage includes a drive-through bus wash and an additional mechanical lift, as well as several energy-efficiency components
One of President Obama’s final pitches for passage of the stimulus package was the uncompleted Fairfax County Parkway in northern Virginia. Although the Virginia Dept. of Transportation (VDOT) in 2004 allocated $89 million to complete a 2-mile segment adjacent to Fort Belvoir and Interstate 95, the project stalled due to its route across a portion of the Army’s Engineer Proving Ground (EPG), an 820-acre tract heavily contaminated from years of ordnance testing and training activities. Fairfax, Va. Photo: Jim Parsons / ENR New road will carry thousands of workers to government offices in suburban Virginia. Related Links: Stimulus: A Snapshot
Plans to build the $3.4-billion headquarters campus for the Dept. of Homeland Security in Washington, D.C., got a jump start thanks to ARRA funding. The U.S. General Services Administration implemented the plan in August when it awarded a $435-million design-build contract to provide a new headquarters building for the U.S. Coast Guard on the site of the former St. Elizabeths Hospital. In additional to federal appropriations, the project secured $162 million of combined ARRA funds from GSA and DHS, which GSA spokesman Michael McGill says accelerated portions of phase one. Washington, D.C. Photo: USCG Coast Guard headquarters in Washington, D.C.,
Tamarack place, an 83-unit, low-income housing complex with 10,000 sq ft of retail space in Seattle, got an infusion of cash through a $7-million award from the $13.5 million in stimulus funds the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development gave to the Seattle Housing Authority. An additional $6.5 million will fund infrastructure on the northern portion of the site. Seattle, Wash. Photo: Seattle Housing Authority Development includes low-income housing, infrastructure and retail space. Related Links: Stimulus: A Snapshot of Top Shovel-, Wrench- and Pencil-Ready Projects American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding “allows us to make up for the loss of
After lying dormant for five years, a project that will dramatically improve a Birmingham federal building’s energy efficiency was re-energized by American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding. The Robert Vance Federal Building, built in 1921, will receive new mechanical and electrical systems, as well as other enhancements, when construction is completed in 2012. Birmingham, Ala. Photo: Hoar Construction LLC Birmingham Federal office building in Birmingham, Ala., finally receives energy-efficiency upgrades. Related Links: Stimulus: A Snapshot of Top Shovel-, Wrench- and Pencil-Ready Projects The General Services Administration project was a long time coming. A design contract awarded in 2004 to Quinn
Competition among bidders for stimulus funded projects such as Interstate 10 from Sarival Avenue to Verrado Way means that nearly one third of the $350 million in stimulus funds provided to the Arizona Dept. of Transportation has been reallocated in a second round of projects. Phoenix, Ariz. Photo: Southwest Asphalt Paving Interstate 10, Arizona DOT’s second-largest ARA project, will be widened west of Phoenix from two lanes to three. Related Links: Stimulus: A Snapshot of Top Shovel-, Wrench- and Pencil-Ready Projects “The current economic conditions have created a trend toward lower-than-estimated bidding and a higher number of bids,” says ADOT
If time is money, then Brutoco Engineering & Construction Inc. has saved cash-strapped California officials both. The Fontana, Calif.-based company won an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act-funded contract in September to widen the congested 91 Freeway in Orange County. Its bid came in at about $20 million below and more than 400 working days under what California Dept. of Transportation (Caltrans) officials estimated. Brutoco believes it can do the job in about 300 working days, says Tracey Lavelle, a Caltrans spokeswoman. “This is a very aggressive timeline by the contractor,” she says. Orange County, Calif. Related Links: Stimulus: A Snapshot
Tom Commings needed a job. Over the past summer, the 35-year old resident of Dearborn Homes, a wornout, public-housing complex on Chicago’s South Side, was laid off from a factory job. Relief came this September in the form of a $28.2-million infusion of federal stimulus funds aimed at upgrading three of Dearborn’s 16 brick apartment buildings. Commings now is working as a laborers’ union Local 4 apprentice steps away from his front door. “It’s hard work, but it’s good work,” says Commings. “It’s a great opportunity.” Chicago, Ill. Photo: Tudor Van Hampton/ENR Workers pour a concrete driveway for Chicago’s $28.2-million
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